


Fireworks

by LydiaOfNarnia



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: Fireworks, Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 10:42:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4301676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LydiaOfNarnia/pseuds/LydiaOfNarnia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Verona's Founding Day is always a celebration, and for five of Verona's unlucky teenagers, they know just the way to spend it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fireworks

The scramble of people and urgent, hushed voices was all that could be heard for a long moment as under the cover of darkness five teenagers scrambled to find their places in the grass. It was only after one too many incidences of getting elbowed in the face that Romeo rather harshly demanded that someone finally find some source of light before everyone wound up killing each other.

Sure enough, it was reliable Benvolio who finally pulled out the flashlight; at last, the small group was able to see exactly where they’d spent the last half hour hiking to in a desperate race to beat the setting sun.

“It’s… fantastic,” spoke up Romeo, finding himself transfixed by the sight of the entire city of Verona, in all it’s lit up glory, sprawled out below them. By his side, clutching his arm tightly so as not to trip down the steep hill the group was perched on top of, Juliet seemed similarly awed.

“It’s beautiful,” she muttered dreamily, laying her head against his shoulder. Romeo turned to look over at her, smiling gently down at the top of her head.

“Just like you. You’re even more gorgeous, of course.”

Mercutio, who for his own sanity chose to ignore Juliet’s giggle at the sickeningly sweet line, bared his teeth in a satisfied grin and tossed an arm around Benvolio’s shoulders. “I knew this would be the perfect place,” he boasted proudly; he hadn’t mentioned that this particular hill just outside the city happened to be one of his favorite places to go when he just wanted to escape everything and everyone, and he didn’t intend to reveal this little fact anytime soon. Taking his friends (and Tybalt, incidentally, for there was no way the Capulet nephew was allowing his precious cousin to go anywhere alone with a pack of rowdy Montagues) up here had been difficult for him; but Verona’s founding day was always celebrated with a fantastic fireworks display, and Mercutio knew for a fact that this hill was the perfect place to get a golden view of them.

“This is going to be incredible,” Juliet remarked as she and her love settled down on the grass. Her cousin, hanging like a dark shadow over her shoulder and clothed in his usual black attire, immediately followed suit next to her. As Romeo’s hand stealthily snuck behind Juliet’s back to run his fingers through her long locks, Tybalt shot the oblivious Montague boy an ominous glare.

Benvolio and Mercutio exchanged amused glances; there was little doubt in their minds that if Romeo tried anything too sneaky in the presence of the Capulet scion, he’d wind up with a black eye. Benvolio curled up on the grass a comfortable distance away from his cousin- he had no desire to get caught in the middle of anything, be it fists or lips- and drew his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on top of them as he stared up at the sky. The sight was enough to make Mercutio smirk.

“Why Benvolio, you have all the stars in your eyes.”

The other boy didn’t look at him; he seemed transfixed by the view, and Mercutio half found himself wondering why he hadn’t brought him out here before. “Do I?”

“You should keep them; they suit you well.” The blond teen brushed a rebellious strand of hair back from Benvolio’s face, and studied the way his gaze seemed to stretch so much farther than the city below them; as if he were looking out on an entire world, heavens and earth, that he had never seen before. “They light up your complexion; you drink in the moonlight as if you belong to it. You look like a shining star- an astronomer of the complexities of our little city. You hero, you movie star… you look like you’ve spent your life chasing comets through the sky, and you’re stopping for a rest just once in your life. You’re so starkly awed by these little balls of gas and dust up in the infinity of space- you look-” He cut himself off abruptly, biting his tongue, before he wound up saying something he’d regret later. Instead, discreetly twisting his fingers to hide his nervousness, he grinned. “Keep them in your eyes and by your side.”

“I won’t keep them,” Benvolio replied amiably, obviously playing along for Mercutio’s sake; but the other boy couldn’t care less, just as long as he could see that soft smile on his lover’s face. “Then the moon would be lonely, don’t you think?”

“Ah yes, the constantly pining moon,” Mercutio chuckled. “For all the ways the moon changes, one thing about it remains the same; it can never be alone.” He tilted his head, studying Benvolio intently for another moment. “You know- I change my mind. You remind me of the moon.”

“Oh really?” Benvolio laughed softly, turning at last to look at the other boy. “How so?”

“Being alone is a tedious task, and a troublesome one to ask of any man- some, of course, prefer it. But you…” Mercutio leaned in closer, his fingers gently stroking under Benvolio’s chin. “No, I could never imagine you being alone. Not for as long as you live. Should you be alone, in fact, I quite think you shouldn’t live anymore- and if you shouldn’t then I certainly shouldn’t either. My prison without stars… without you, I mean. You thrive off the attentions of the people around you, and the affection that you can pay them; you care so deeply about others. Benvolio, Benvolio, may you never be alone.”

Benvolio tilted his head, and a dark strand of hair once more fell into his eyes; Mercutio gently brushed it away.

“Are you okay, Mercutio?”

The blond boy shrugged off Benvolio’s enquiring glance with a derisive snort; whether or not the other could see through his nonchalance was anyone’s guess. He knew that he was rambling again, and he also knew that Benvolio was aware of the certain effect Founding Day tended to have on him. But Mercutio refused to let that ruin tonight. “I’m fine.”

Whether Benvolio accepted this or not, Mercutio wasn’t sure; he almost found himself surprised when the other boy spoke again. “When would I ever be alone?” Benvolio asked quietly, his eyes clouded with thoughtfulness as they pierced Mercutio’s own. “I’ve got Romeo, and Juliet, of course… and my uncle and aunt… and... you…”

Mercutio had no clue just how close they were about to kissing until a long-suffering sigh from his left drew him back to reality. He and Benvolio both turned to see Tybalt hunched over on the grass, having drifted similarly away from his cousin’s side in the same manner as Benvolio. Romeo and Juliet were already consumed with each other, heads pressed together as they whispered intently with one another, their words every so often being punctuated by the occasional giggle or a kiss. With Mercutio and Benvolio otherwise occupied, in the time it was taking for the fireworks to start up it was obvious just who the fifth wheel of the group was.

Mercutio glanced between Tybalt and Benvolio; the hazel eyed boy caught his glance, and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. A grin slowly spread across Mercutio’s face; after all, Tybalt was the one who had insisted on coming with them. Why should he be left all alone on Verona’s Founding Day?

Holding up a his hand for Benvolio to see, Mercutio counted down from three on his fingers. Tybalt had just noticed the uncharacteristic quiet from the pair and turned his head to see what they were planning when all of a sudden he was sprung upon, two bodies tackling him to the ground at once. The scraggly haired boy let out a yelp, falling back against the grass under the weight of both Benvolio and Mercutio’s bodies at once.

Juliet, finally distracted from Romeo for a few moments by her cousin’s plight, let out a shriek of delight and cheered them on. Romeo wolf-whistled; doubled over in laughter, Benvolio crawled off of the poor Capulet as Tybalt struggled vainly against the attentions of Mercutio. The prince’s nephew peppered his face with playful kisses, each one causing Tybalt to howl as if he were being burned. Every cry of distress only seemed to spur Mercutio on more; there was no escape from his ministrations for the hapless Prince of Cats.

A sudden explosion took them all aback; Juliet’s head swiveled to the side, and she was the first to catch sight of the very thing the five of them had been waiting for all along. “Oh- look! They’ve started!”

The explosions of color lit up the sky in brilliant, luminous bursts of gold, silver, and purple; at last climbing off of Tybalt (or being shoved off by his victim, not that he was willing to admit it), Mercutio rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his arms, grinning wildly. On his left, Benvolio curled up against him, his eyes wide and an almost childlike smile on his face as he stared up at the fireworks. Even Tybalt’s coal-colored eyes seemed to shine as they reflected the intense lights in the sky; the tenseness in his body slowly faded, and he even proved himself capable of lying placidly at the side of his sworn nemesis. Romeo and Juliet were propped up against each other, inhaling gasps at every new explosion of color; all five teenagers seemed almost hypnotized by the magical sight before them.

For each one, the thing that mattered to them most in the world- love, hope, family, loyalty, duty- was suddenly clear right before their eyes. A sense of camaraderie fell over the group; they were tied together up on that hill under the light of those explosions in the sky, whether they wanted it or even knew it. They were bound by a unity of shared experience, shared beauty and incredulity; they were a group, whether they wanted to admit it or not.

Mercutio couldn’t regret revealing his favorite hiding spot. Benvolio had never been more happy to be with the people he cared about and to not be on his own. Juliet was happy to be out and free, in the arms of someone she loved; Romeo was more than happy to have someone that he could love with all his heart. And Tybalt- yes, even Tybalt- realized that he didn’t regret coming up here with his cousin and her much-despised “friends” just as much as he thought he would.

They were the youth of Verona, and even just for a moment, none of them were alone. For one moment, they were a single unit; and the hate that had marred their very existence their entire lives suddenly seemed as far away as the city far below them.

**Author's Note:**

> I was in the hospital this Fourth of July, so I missed to fireworks! But here in the good ol' US of A, the Fourth of July doesn't end after the 4th- so technically it's still okay to post this! I just wanted fireworks and friendship, with an added side of shippyness to make everyone happy. I regret nothing. Fight me, Tybalt.


End file.
